It is very common for companies to log all calls to the help desk as Incidents, since very few have access to a fully functional Service Catalog with an easy to use Service Request mechanism built into their help desk solution. We know this because this is the market we're in. We've bridged that gap.

Anyhow, logging all your calls is a very good start. In the case of your example, it would definitely be a Service Request, where the consumer is asking for that new mouse. However, in most cases, this is not something that would be considered a Request For Change. A Request For Change typically results in the configuration change of a product (software and/or hardware).

However, if you are managing a Resource's configuration the same way you would manage a product configuration, by tracking their detailed location, the assets they possess, their computer profiles, their office layout, etc., then, yes, deploying that mouse would be changing their configuration. There are a few companies out there that have matured enough to be able to manage such configurations. The more typical scenario is that most simply worry about the configurations of their software, hardware, and data centers.

In my humble experience working with several clients and accounts I have encounter similar lack of clarity regarding Service Requests.

Interpretation of what is/should to be considered a Service Request should to be predefined in the SLA for given account.

My best bet was always to find the answers in this document.

However if SR's are not defined in SLA then we have a tricky situation as it usually adversely affects the metrics for the whole account.
In such circumstances an attempt should to be made to define and implement separate Service Request workflow specific to the organizational needs and means.

To borrow from Jan Van Bon the following are the examples of regular Service Requests would be:
Functional question or request for information
Status inquiry
Password reset
Requests for batch jobs and password authorizations
Database extraction
Request to provide new employee with appropriate IT functionality/services

In principle these actions could be classified as Change, however for practical reasons these were defined as Service Requests by the Organizations to relieve Change Management Process.

I have to agree with Jan that for day to day Service Desk operations, Incident Management and Change Management processes and their functionality that Service Requests are in fact Changes that are “outsourced” and taken out of the Change Management workflow model due to level of the impact on the day to day operations for the users and due to the fact that these “are/could /should” to be classified or understood as standard changes that do not need CAB and TAB involvement and can be handled by standardised process.

Neither the new service request or the change request should ideally go through the Service Desk. The Service desk being an ally of the Incident Management should be only reported disruptions of service. The Incident Management should be able to do a RFC if the disruption requires any change in the CI. All Service Requests doesn't warrant a change but they do require approvals. For example a request for a new laptop doesn't require a change in the CI but certain approvals as it involves procurement. The users must be extended the ability to raise such requests as a self service and such requests should be logged as incidents at all . Any ideas or inputs are welcome .

Ask yourself the question ... who does the user speak to in order to request the laptop??

The point is that they call the Service Desk. Whether the Service Desk take the order for that laptop ot tell the user where they need to go and who they need to talk to depends on how they are set up. The important thing is thet
1) the user has a single point of contact for any request - the servcie desk
20 the service desk have the infomation to provide to the user about their request e.g. if they dont order the laptop that the tell the user either who to contact or the process for them ordering the laptop at their location.

Its about providing the information to the service desk so they can provide the user with the information. The service desk is not just about incidents. Its alaos about request fulfillment._________________Mark O'Loughlin
ITSM / ITIL Consultant

Well understood. The Service Desk should remain the sole point of contact .However, the problem here is that the high number of calls and high numbers of incidents corresponding to the calls point towards an unstable IT Infrastructure system as most of the BMC/ CA tools allow the Helpdesk analysts only to log incidents. It should work if the tools are flexible enough to be customized to take up IT Service Request Calls. When I say customizing, it means that once request raised by the Helpdesk analyst the request goes to the requestor's manager for approval( who eventually would be paying for it), then upon approval it comes to the IT Service Desk which routes it to the appropriate groups. I would recommend an online IT requisition form with an inbuilt workflow management. The Service Desk can't shrug off the responsibility of redirecting the end users towards this form. Such calls could be called as queries and could be closed quickly . A rising number of such queries should indicate that the Online requisition form is not advertised properly. All incidents logged in the ITSM points towards a failure of one thing or the other .